May 6, 2010

The NYPD Tapes

In the 81st Precinct in New York City, a cop, Schoolcraft, secretly recorded roll call and other happenings over the course of the year.

Bold.

Though all he seems to show is something we all should already know. In the NYPD, everybody is under intense pressure to produce good "stats" (arrests and citations) and reduce bad stats (crime numbers). I suppose the good of the tapes is the department may finally have to stop trying to say with a straight face that officers are not under pressure to meet arrest and citation quotas. Compstat has done a lot of good. But the impact of a stat-driven culture on the incoming rank-and-file is not very productive.

The article, which is a bit too long (though I look forward to reading the next installment!), makes some claims I strongly disagree with. For instance, responding officer at a scene certainly has a responsibility to judge the validity of a victim's claim. Police patrol officers are not just report writers. And detectives who claim otherwise are doing a grave disservice to the majority of police officers.

Overall, reading the story and listening to some of the recordings, I couldn't help but think what good leaders these were. The men and women leading roll call look out for their troops, warn them of bureaucratic nightmares, and try an instill a strong work ethic.

And some of the stories just make me nostalgic for my policing days. The sergeant who deadpans the danger of mine shafts in Bed-Stuy? What a progressive pedagogical approach (I'm trying to use fancy words here) to help officers not get in trouble for failing to carry... whistle holders. Yes, in the police word, where you put your life on the line almost every day, if they want to, they can bang you for sh*t like not carrying a whistle holder. (Just FYI, I had previously never heard of a whistle holder. In Baltimore, I managed to hold my whistle just fine without a dedicated whistle holder. The whistle, it turns out, makes an excellent key chain for the easy to lose but important to have handcuff key.)

Nobody's got your whistle holder, and half of you don't have your whistle. That's unacceptable. When I fall down the mine shaft, I'm the only one that's going to be able to call for help. The rest of you are going to have to fire off your gun, and they'll give you a [reprimand] for that.

I love this guy!

And is this really too much to ask?: "You want to draw penises, draw them in your own memo book." Hard to argue with that request.

But I think the only reason we didn't "cock" memo books in the Eastern was because Baltimore cops don't have memo books. (Is there a point to memo books except creating more paperwork?) Makes me think of my buddy who reads this blog (yeah, I'm talking about you). He would wait for any new LT to finish roll call with the very decent question, "Does anybody have anything?" To which he would answer with unbridled glee, "I have this horrible burning sensation when I pee!"

I saw the video. Sucks that they shot the dogs. I've done multiple raids and the dogs were shot twice. Unfortunately it has to be done if they attack the entry team. However in my experience, the dogs usually run like hell when an entry team comes in.

Well there is no question that it happens all the time. Usually there isn't such informative video. People seem to questioning the tactics (including the raid itself, the shooting of the dogs and the attitude shown by the arresting officers).

The drawing of certain body parts in a colleague's police notebook actually serves a vital sociological function. It reminds the inexperienced or absent minded officer to never leave his or her notebook lying around again.

A police notebook is a document of great importance. Officers should know where it is at all times; it cannot be out of their possession. When someone does draw humorously shaped vegetables in a fellow constable's notebook, they have given that officer an informal reminder that he or she will never forget. Therefore, instead of being investigated by internal affairs, the carrot and turnip artist should in fact receive a commendation for peer leadership.

1. shooting at dogs indoors where innocent people may be present. the chance of killing an innocent should outweigh the risk that an officer gets a bite.

2. Not giving owners a chance to restrain the dogs. These raids seem like pretty much an automatic death sentence for any large dog. A lot of people see that as wrong, and even downright evil (at least on a mere search warrant -- the calculus is a bit different when the police are going after Bonnie and Clyde on an arrest warrant obviously).

3. Some people claim to see an unwarranted face kick.

4. Police had a disrespectful demeanor -- seemed to relish the killing of the dog and the wounding of the other dog.

5. Supposedly, three officers shot at the pit bull dog. Supposedly (and I can't vouch one way or the other on this) this is bad because when one SWAT guy is shooting at the dog, the others are supposed to be covering him and watching otehr directions.

None of this should minimize PCM's comments about that this raid should not have happened. Just that there may be plenty of blame to go around at both the management level and the talent level.

"1. shooting at dogs indoors where innocent people may be present. the chance of killing an innocent should outweigh the risk that an officer gets a bite."

Soooo the officer should take a possibly serious dog bite? Do you seriously think that officers would do their job if they weren't allowed to protect themselves. I would love to see you stand your ground when being charged by a pit bull. You do know that when you shoot a dog, you are generally shooting downward right? This is the least likely trajectory that would hurt a bystander.

"2. Not giving owners a chance to restrain the dogs. These raids seem like pretty much an automatic death sentence for any large dog. A lot of people see that as wrong, and even downright evil (at least on a mere search warrant -- the calculus is a bit different when the police are going after Bonnie and Clyde on an arrest warrant obviously)."

I understand why they don't let the suspect walk around while they are clearing the house. Things haven't been secured yet so you don't let the suspect access a weapon. These raids really aren't usually death sentences for dogs. I've seen most pitbulls, shepards, and other big breeds run for the hills when we bust in. The problem on this raid was the team did a weak entry. The keys to a good entry are speed, surprise, and violence of action. This usually overloads the dogs and they bail. This particular entry seemed half-assed to me.

"3. Some people claim to see an unwarranted face kick."

Didn't see this. Doubt it.

"4. Police had a disrespectful demeanor -- seemed to relish the killing of the dog and the wounding of the other dog."

Where do you get this from? They were trying to secure the house and didn't have time to cry over the dogs.

"5. Supposedly, three officers shot at the pit bull dog. Supposedly (and I can't vouch one way or the other on this) this is bad because when one SWAT guy is shooting at the dog, the others are supposed to be covering him and watching otehr directions."

So you admit you don't know SWAT tactics but you go ahead and criticize them anyway? No comment.

've seen most pitbulls, shepards, and other big breeds run for the hills when we bust in.

The dogs did run. They got cornered in the kitchen, where they were shot. This is why you do not see a dead pit bull near the front door in the video. There is only so far that a large dog can run in a closed house. Once the large dog is cornered it is going to get shot. The search warrant is a death sentence for the dog, at least the way search warrants are executed these days. Just like it was for Cheye Calvo's dogs.

You can keep saying they are death sentences for dogs but that isn't usually true unless the dogs are more aggressive than your average dog.

Like I've said, I've done many many raids and dogs only got shot in two of them. The two dogs that got shot were pitbulls and were trained by their owners to be vicious. Of course that is my actual experience talking so I doubt a youtube video makes you a bigger expert than me.

Hmmm...not sure what these have to do with search warrants. I'm not sure if I would have shot the dog in the first video but I didn't have it coming straight at me either. I think I would have shot the dog in the second video. It was bigger and coming directly towards the officer.

I assume you would have just taken the bites and been glad to do it? Or perhaps you would have dog whispered it into submission?

If those video show all it takes to get a dog shot, then a search warrant (as they are currently executed) is, like I said, indeed a death sentence for any large dog.

BTW, I have encountered more large, aggressive dogs than you ever will. I have been jumped and even knocked over by more large dogs* than you ever will (both in people's houses and in their yards). Facing large dogs was a regular part of my job for several years. I faced more risk of serious dog bites than you ever will. because you consider the dogs in the two videos to be aggressive, it is clear that you would consider pretty much any large dog to be aggressive.

FOOTNOTE:

* Excluding of course my own families' dogs (we never had any), friend's dogs or dogs belonging to my employer. I am talking about other peoples' dogs.

"If those video show all it takes to get a dog shot, then a search warrant (as they are currently executed) is, like I said, indeed a death sentence for any large dog."

I guess you think that if you keep saying something enough times, it becomes true?

"BTW, I have encountered more large, aggressive dogs than you ever will. I have been jumped and even knocked over by more large dogs* than you ever will (both in people's houses and in their yards)."

Congratulations on your bravery in being tackled by large dogs. If you don't mind taking a serious bite, then more power to you. However I am not going to risk a possible career ending injury because the corner drug dealer decided to keep a pitbull in the house. Getting bit by a dog is not in a police officer's job description.

And even though I feel that way, once again, it is very very rare for dogs to be shot during the execution of search warrants. Does it still happen sometimes? Yep. We don't live in a perfect world.

Pete, as you know, there were no memo books to cook in Eastern. But, if you remember there was a court book and somehow that book would occasionally turn up missing, especially when officers didn't want to attend court. That way, they couldn't get charged with FTA.

Peter Moskos is an associate professor in the Department of Law, Police Science, and Criminal Justice Administration at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. He is on the faculty of the City University of New York's Doctoral Programs in Sociology and a Senior Fellow of the Yale Urban Ethnography Project.

Moskos graduated from Princeton (AB) and Harvard (PhD) and was a Baltimore City Police Officer. He has authored three books: Cop in the Hood, In Defense of Flogging, and Greek Americans.

Me in 2000

Me in 2016

Critical Acclaim for Cop in the Hood

Cops like the book, Cop in the Hood:

"Should be made mandatory reading for every recruit in the Balto. City Police Academy. ... I am so proud that you were a Baltimore Police Officer and a good one." —Colonel (ret.) Margaret Patton, Baltimore City Police Department

"I just finished reading the last footnote! Great stuff." —NYPD Lt. Detective (ret.) David Durk

"I have been a cop now for 23 years and your book really captured what it's like to be a street cop. . . . Great book, great insights." —Detective-Commander Joseph Petrocelli

"Moskos strips away hard to decipher cop-speak and sociological mumbo jumbo and presents something easily digestible by the average reader.... Moskos is a veteran of a war [on drugs] he disagrees with. But he has walked the walk, respects the brotherhood and, as far as I’m concerned, still bleeds blue." —Pepper Spray Me

"Truly excellent.... Mandatory reading for all fans of The Wire and recommended for everyone else." —Tyler Cowen

"Ethnographic chutzpah.... Perhaps the best sociological account on what it means to police a modern ghetto.... Tells a great story centered around notions of race, power and social control." —Andrew Papachristos, American Journal of Sociology

"[An] objective, incisive and intelligent account of police work. Moskos's graphic descriptions of the drug culture... are the most detailed and analytical to be found anywhere. —Arnold Ages, Jewish Post & Opinion

It could have profound consequences.... In Defense of Flogging forces the reader to confront issues surrounding incarceration that most Americans would prefer not to think about. —Mansfield Frazier, The Daily Beast

“Flogging” is intriguing, even in — or because of — its shocking premise. As a case against prisons, Mr. Moskos' is airtight. —Washington Times

Compelling… Although his outrageous idea may conjure up unsavory reminders of U.S. slavery, by the end of “In Defense of Flogging,” Moskos might just have you convinced. —Salon

One of the very few public-policy books I've encountered that goes past wringing its hands over a societal problem.... Moskos's sharp little volume has a potential audience far beyond the experts. —Rich Fisher, Public Radio Tusla

A very important work... provocative, timely, and well-argued. I agree with you completely that our criminal justice system is out of control.... On one hand, the problems seem intractable. On the other hand, we're doomed if we don't do something about it. —(Former) CIA Agent John Kiriakou

It was, in truth, a book that I could not put down. I read it in two sittings (my butt was hurting after the first!)... You did well. —Gary Alan Fine, John Evans Professor of Sociology, Northwestern University.